


Cursed

by Enderon



Series: The Adventures of Team Building Exercise [1]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen, Team Building Exercise, cause they deserve their own epic story, gotta love the ah children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-09 13:24:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3251330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enderon/pseuds/Enderon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The warrior, thoughtless in her might, doomed to a life of thoughtlessness. The thief, relentless in his greed, doomed to an eternity of relentless pain. The mage, unstoppable in his quest, doomed to an unstoppable transformation. And the dragon, impatient to prove his worth, now impatient to pay his sentence.<br/>Curses, are no laughing matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lindsay's Mistake

_It had all been an accident. A complete misunderstanding. How could she possibly be faulted for just trying to protect her friend?_

The sun shone in dapples upon the three companions as they walked jovially through the forest, the barbarian and the warrior hand in hand. The archer trampled on ahead, his loud, squeaky voice letting them know he was always there. The two smiled at each other as he let out a particularly undignified sqwuak. 

"Just think Lindsay," the barbarian said, adjusting his wire framed glasses, "One week and you'll officially be my wife."

"Um, correction." The warrior poked him in the nose, grinning cheekily at his scrunched up indignation, "One week and you'll be my husband."

"Of course." He agreed, laughing. The two smiled widely at each other again. Suddenly, the archer burst out of the bushes, out of breath, but his eyes wide in wonder.

"You guys have got to see this." He expressed, before darting back the way he had come.

The couple shared a look before the warrior grinned and darted after their wayward companion. They had a nice run through the forest, before coming across and amazing site.

Bursting into a clearing, they found themselves stood in front of the ruins of what looked to be an ancient temple. Strange symbols surrounded the wide opening; symbols that none of them had ever seen before.

"Wow." Lindsay whistled, looking around with eyes wide. The archer bounced next to her, grinning from ear to ear.

"Isn't it cool?" He squeaked.

"I don't know Gavin." The barbarian was looking around cautiously, pulling his sword out from where it was held on his back, "I've got a bad feeling about this place."

Something pushed him to the side, and he quickly turned his head to give Lindsay a scowl and a matching glare.

"Come on grumpy pants," she said, pulling out her own sword and walking towards the entrance, "Don't be such a downer. What harm could their possibly be in exploring some old ruins when it's you and me."

"What about me?" Gavin asked, hurrying after her.

She turned her head long enough only to give him a funny look, before continuing inside. Seeing that both his fiance and his friend were already inside the temple, Michael sighed and decided to just accept his fate. With one last look around, he followed the two inside.

As the three companions walked through the ruins, they were surprised to find that it was not dark, despite a clear lack of a light source. They all mutually agreed that it must be some form of magic.

After a long time walking with no interesting site, other than a couple rooms filled with dusty old books, the three came to a very large room. In the center of the room was a large pedestal with a great light shining on it.

Gavin's yes widened, and he stepped further into the room to investigate the object. But he stopped, at the sound of a low growling.

The three all looked around frantically to find the source of the growling.

Suddenly, out of the shadows, a griffin launched itself towards the startled archer.

"Gavin!" Both Lindsay and Michael yelled. Moving quickly, Lindsay jumped forward and slung her blade at the creature. She felt the familiar tug of a hit, and used her strength to pull the blade down. Landing on the ground, she pulled her sword out of the creature, and looked down at it.

It looked like a large cat of some sort, but it had wings and a beak.

"Thanks a lot Lindsay." Gavin breathed, clapping her on the shoulder.

She turned to grin at the man, but when she saw a strange hooded figure beyond him, she gasped and quickly moved him behind herself. She glared at the figure, holding her blade out in front of herself. She felt the familiar presence of Michael beside her, holding firmly to his own sword.

"You." The figure breathed out, it's voice voice raspy with some age of many years. It held out a cloaked arm to point a gnarled finger at Lindsay. "You, have made a grave mistake in your actions."

"Me?" Lindsay exclaimed, startled, "What did I do?"

"You killed the guardian of the temple." The figure croaked, louder than before, then moved its hand to point at the creature on the ground, "You killed Beskyddare."

"It would have killed our friend." Michael defended, "She had to."

"She **had** to do nothing. Now thanks to her actions, these sacred grounds will be at risk for pillage and thievery." Lowering its arm, the figure looked up until the three companions could make out two, glowing purple orbs beneath the hood. "You shall pay gravely for what you have done." The figure then raised both arms, and held its hands palm towards the three of them. A strange purple cloud came out of them, and surrounded Lindsay. She couldn't hear Michael and Gavin yelling at her from outside the cloud. All she heard was a croaky voice saying, "I grant upon you the changing curse of the goddess Tanklös. May you ever fear your days to come." And with those words, all thoughts left Lindsay's mind. All considerations and memories and wants were gone. All that was left was blank space.

As she looked around herself, she saw two strange creatures looking down at her, making strange noises with their mouths. She was very confused.

What were these creatures? What was this sound they were making?

So confused was Lindsay, that she ran away from these strange creatures, not wanting anything to do with them.


	2. Jeremy's Recklessness

_He always knew that his actions would catch up to him one day. He just could never have suspected such a consequence._

 It was a simple supply run. He was running low on certain things that could only be gotten in the next town over, and Matt had been bugging him about a special potion he needed. A potion that Jeremy had never even heard of let alone had the ingredients for. But Matt seemed to trust Jeremy's judgement, and had suggested he just follow his instincts.

"It's not really that simple." Jeremy had tried to explain, but his friend had just waved him out the door.

Now he was going over what he'd need to get in his head, rifling through his coin pouch to see how much he had.

"I'm a few silvers too short." He mumbled to himself and couldn't help but grin at that. It meant he could steal some things and have liable reason, so Matt couldn't lecture him about his joy of thievery. After all, he'd just been dying to try out his new, stronger, invisibility potion.  _  
_

Suddenly, something brightly colored jumped out of the bushes and onto the path in front of him. 

Jeremy jumped and reached for one of his potions until he saw what it was.

"Stupid bird." He laughed to himself, relaxing. Calmed down now, he looked the creature over and found himself very surprised by it. The bird was unlike any he'd seen before.

It's body was covered in bright red feathers, with golden ones accenting the wings, tail, and top of the head. Jeremy could imagine it looked quite a lot like fire in the sunlight.

He was suddenly overcome with an intense need to have the bird. He didn't know what it was, or where it had come from, other than that he desperately needed the bird.

Kneeling down, he put his hand out slowly and whistled a little. The bird cocked its head to the side, almost in a confused manner. For a moment, Jeremy thought it would come to him, but it let out a loud squeak before vanishing into the bushes. 

The man immediately jumped to his feet and raced after it. He chased after the bird for seemed like hours, continuing to run despite his growing exhaustion. Where was this bird going? And why couldn't he make himself stop following?

Finally, the bird stopped.

Gleefully, Jeremy jumped forward and snatched it up. The creature struggled, but he kept a firm grasp on it. 

"I don't know why I wanted you so badly, but you're mine now." He was about to turn around and head back for the path, when he looked up at what the bird had stopped in front of. 

Jeremy's mouth fell open when he saw the ruins, the entrance covered in ancient markings. 

"Matt would probably die if he were here." He mused.

Looking into the entrance, he felt a strange sensation, pulling him forward.

As he stepped forward, the bird in his arms seemed to struggle even more. 

"Cut it out." He hissed at it. The bird seemed to listen, and immediately settled down. But it did occasionally let out little, concerned peeps. 

As he walked through the ruins, Jeremy couldn't help but feel unnerved. There was something weird about this place, he could just tell. Despite all the doors he passed, for some reason, he just knew that there was nothing of interest in any of them. No, he knew he was headed towards something truly good. And this concerned him, because he didn't know why.

After walking for a while, he came to a large room. In the center of the room was a pedestal, a great beam of light shining upon it.

The bird began to struggled so frantically that Jeremy struggled to hold onto it. He dropped it with a yelp when it snapped it's beak on his arm, running off as quickly as it could. 

"Stupid bird." He hissed, walking forward towards the pedestal. 

He was astounded when he looked on top of it, and discovered an ancient looking book. Taking a look into it, he was pleased to see that it was filled with what seemed to be potion recipes and spells.

"Amazing." He whispered.

Looking from side to side, he tucked the book under his arm and turned to leave the room.

Suddenly, something launched out of the shadows and he felt a white hot pain in his throat. Looking down, he saw blood dripping down his body and onto the floor, before his legs gave out beneath him. 

Lying on the ground, attempting to cry out for help, Jeremy watched as a figure approached him. His vision was starting to go dark, but he saw as the figure picked up the book and seemed to look down at him from beneath it's hood.

"Foolish thief." It hissed in an aged voice, "You would have taken this without any hesitation. Without any consideration of whom it belongs to."

Jeremy pawed at his throat weakly, earning what sounded like a croaky chuckle form the figure. 

"Does it hurt thief? I'm sure it does. It is only what you deserve." The figure tipped its head, and two purple orbs seemed to glow from beneath its hood, "You probably wish for the sweet release of death. I'm certain you do. But you do not deserve that luxury."

The figure stretched a gnarled hand over him and a strange purple cloud surrounded Jeremy.

"May you forever suffer the pain of a deathly blow. May you never reach eternal peace and may you never know the comfort in the knowledge of your end. Let you live for eternities, long after your loved ones have passed."

The voice seemed to grow stronger as it spoke, echoing in Jeremy's ears. But suddenly it cut off and cloud cleared. The figure was gone, leaving Jeremy to lie in a pool of his own blood.

"God," he gurgled, feeling strength return to his body despite the pain in his throat, "What have I done?"


	3. A Terrible Realization

Matt chewed anxiously at his lip, constantly glancing out the window for any sign of a familiar figure approaching.

The feeling had started off as indifference to Jeremy being late, considering that he might have tried stealing again and had run into trouble. Matt hadn't been worried by that. Even if Jeremy had been caught, he was an expert at escaping. No prison could hold him for long. But when the sun set and there was still no sign of him, a knot had begun to form in Matt's stomach. He shouldn't have been taking so long, the next town not even that far away. But when he woke up the next morning and Jeremy still had not returned, then Matt really began to worry.

He debated on whether of not to go out and search for his friends.

On one hand, he could be in real trouble and actually need his help. On the other hand, he could be completely fine and would never let Matt hear the end of it if he went searching for him. 

He had almost come to the decision to go searching when he glanced out the window and saw the familiar figure heading towards the house. He ran a hand through his hair, letting out a relieved sigh, before stepping out to greet his friend.

"What took you so long?" He quipped as the shorter man staggered up to him, "You kept me waiting for hou-" Matt cut off immediately when he caught sight of the red covering his friend. Jeremy was holding what looked like a blood soaked rag over his neck, and looked up to give Matt a grimace.

"M'sorry." He mumbled, the words coming out gurgly as blood dripped from his mouth.

"God Jeremy," Matt hissed as he moved forward to support his staggering companion, "What the hell happened? Who did this to you?"

"Tell y'ater." He gurgled in reply. He raised a trembling hand towards the house, "Potion, of healing."

Matt nodded, understanding what his friend was trying to say. Helping him inside, he let the shorter man slump into a chair before running to the potions room. He rummaged through the selection of healing potions until he came up with one that looked fairly strong. Hurrying back to Jeremy, he uncorked it before handing it to him.

Jeremy nodded at him and downed the whole thing. He sat there for a moment, gasping for breath, before lowering the rag. What used to be a large gash was now nothing more than a little cut. 

"God, that's better." Jeremy gasped out, dropping the rag onto the table next to him.

Jeremy, what the heck man?" Matt asked, feeling a little frazzled by what just happened, "What the hell happened to you?"

"I'm not entirely certian." The shorter admitted, "I found these old ruins, like, crazy old." He flashed a slight smirk in Matt's direction, "You'd go crazy over them.

"Anyways, when I went inside, I found this book. It was filled with all kinds of potion recipes and spells. It was great!"

He then looked down, furrowing his brow in thought.

"I tried to take it, but something came at me and sliced my throat open. I thought I was gonna die, but some guy in a cloak appeared. He said something about me taking it without thought, and how he was glad I was in pain... and then he did something to me."

Matt cocked a brow at the term. "Did something?" he mused, "What do you mean by 'something'?"

"I don't know. I think it was a spell of some sort. This weird purple cloud came out of his hand and surrounded me. And then he kept chanting this weird stuff about eternal pain, and outliving my loved ones, and never knowing the sweet release of death." Jeremy then looked up, concern in his eyes, "Matt, I was lying there for hours. Even if I hadn't died from the inability to breathe, I should have at least died of blood loss after a while. But I didn't, I lived. And I even found that I had the strength to walk all the way back here."

Matt nodded and ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breathe. He had a feeling he knew what Jeremy was dealing with.

"Jeremy," he said quietly, almost sympathetically, "That wasn't just any spell he put on you. I think... I'm pretty sure, that what he gave you, is a curse." 

Jeremy paled at that, knowing exactly what it implied. He looked down at his hands, feeling a wave of nausea wash over him. He stayed like that for a while, just silently staring at his hands while Matt watched on, feeling a growing concern for his friend. Finally, after a while, Jeremy got to his feet. 

His voice sounded distant and hollow as he said, "I need to be alone for a bit," and then proceeded to lock himself in his potions room. 

Matt frowned as he stared at the closed door. He wished desperately that there was something he could do for his friend, but without knowing exactly what the curse was, it would be impossible to find a way to reverse it. And even if they did know which curse it was, it would still be a major challenge. 

Thinking on what Jeremy had described about the ruin, Matt found himself very intrigued. By the sounds of it, this book could be a major help in what he was hoping to achieve. But that hooded figure his friend described, it concerned him. Perhaps, he could at least just look at it, with permission. 

Nodding to himself as he made up his mind, he set out to get a bag of supplies together. As he made to leave, he gave a quick glance towards the door of the potions room, still closed. 

Maybe he could even find a way to help Jeremy out of this situation before he suffered too much.

That's what Matt hoped as he stepped outside and began to follow the path into the forest. 

 

 


	4. Matt's Stubborness

_All he had wanted was to be better than they said he could. To be the best of them, and finally prove himself. The price, he never could have guessed._

Matt grimaced as he looked up at the entryway of the ruins. There was a strong magical force surrounding the place, so strong that it felt like there was a great pressure inside elf his head. Taking his glasses off, he rubbed at his eyes, hoping to relieve some of the pain.

The amount of magical energy was somewhat concerning, considering what it could imply about this person that had cursed his friend. Matt realized that he needed to be extra careful if he didn't want to end up in a similar situation.

Placing the frames back on his face, the mage took a deep breathe before making his way inside.

He was so focused on what he was doing, that he never even noticed the brightly colored bird, watching him from within the trees.

The deeper that Matt walked through the ruins, the stronger and stronger the magical energy became. It was all he could do to put one foot in font of the other, constantly having to sit down and allow himself a moment to breathe. As well as the strong feeling of magical energy, he had the constant strange sensation that he was being watched. Not jet by one pair of eyes, but by many. It was because of this watchful sensation that he continued on along the main hall, not stopping to look through any of the many other rooms.

After what seemed like forever, he finally came to a large open room. With a deep feeling of relief, Matt noticed that the suffocating magical energy seemed to dissipate as soon as he stepped through the doorway into the room. It was certainly a beautiful room, the walls covered in deep and intricate designs and runes, so old that they were probably lost to Minecraftian understanding. In the middle of the large room was a pedestal, a strange light shining down upon it. Matt's eyes widened when he saw the book on top.

That had to be what Jeremy had been talking about.

But as Matt stepped forward, intending to approach the book, a figure suddenly appeared. The figure was wearing a hooded cloak, the hood pulled down so that Matt couldn't see his face. the mage narrowed his eyes at the figure.

"You," Matt addressed, "are you the one who cursed my friend?"

"That depends." Matt grimaced at the scratchy, aged voice that came form the hooded figure, "Is your friend a thieving scoundrel with no regards to others belongings?"

"……. only sometimes."

The figure did not seem amused, Matt being able to just barely make out what looked like a frown from beneath the hood. But jokes aside, the mage steeled himself, and pointed to the figure.

"Listen here, I don't care what my friend did to you. What I know, is that it wasn't nearly bad enough to call for a curse." suddenly overcome by a strange sense of confidence, Matt stepped forward, poking his finger into the figures chest, "So I want you to get rid of the curse. Do you hear me?"

"That," the figure hissed, it's voice slow and concise, "I will not do." With an animalistic growl, Matt grabbed at the figures collar. With red glowing eyes, he held a ball of magical energy in his free hand, aiming it towards the figure. They relented, holding their hands up in a defensive manner.

"W-wait" they stuttered out, "What I meant to say, is that I am not capable of doing such a thing."

"What do you mean?" Matt growled, shaking the figure.

"Just placing a curse takes so much energy as it is. But to take away a curse, would take even more. I am truly sorry, but I just simply do not have the power to remove this curse."

Matt dropped the figure with a growl, glaring down at it.

"What about that book then?" the mage pointed towards the pedestal, "My friend said it was filled with spells and potion recipes. You think it has any spells in it that could help?"

The figure looked towards the book, back to Matt, and then began to laugh. That just made Matt frown even more.

"You fool." The figure chuckled, "The spells in that book are far too complicated for a simple magic human such as yourself. It would take extreme power to be able to use eve the simplest of those spells."

"What, you think I'm too weak?" Matt hissed, forming a magical orb again.

"Yes, yes I do." Then the figure seemed to grin from beneath their hood, "But, I do have the ability to give you the power you would need to perform the spells."

"Really? Then give it to me!" Inside, Matt had no idea what had overcome him. It was this strange feeling, as if he had to be as powerful as possible. That any inkling that he was weak had to be shot down immediately. It confused him, because this feeling was nothing like how he actually felt.

"I must warn you. This power could prove to be too much for you. It could possibly burn you from the inside out."

"I don't care. I can take it!" Matt yelled, "Just give it to me!"

The figure nodded and held a hand out towards Matt. A purple cloud came out of their hand, and surrounded Matt. After a moment, he could feel a strong magical feeling inside of himself. He grinned, but that grin quickly turned into a pained gasp as a sharp agony filled his body. He screamed out in pain, doubling over himself, before everything suddenly went black.

\--------------------------------

"ma….matt….MATT!!"

He could hear someone saying his name. Slowly. he blinked open his eyes to see the concerned face of Jeremy. He friend's eyes were wide, and he seemed to sag in relief when their eyes met.

"Thank God." he breathed out, moving back as Matt sat up.

"What happened?" Matt croaked, holding a hand to his pounding head.

"When I finally came out of my room, you were gone. I waited around for a while and decided to come searching for you when you never showed up. I had a feeling you had come here, and when I got here, you were passed out on the floor."

Matt groaned, squeezing his eyes shut. "How long was I out?" He asked.

"I don't know. I only got here a few minutes ago." Matt nodded at that, then looked down at his hands, squinting.

Something felt different.

"What happened?" Jeremy asked, "Did you meet that guy?"

"I think so." the mage admitted, "He gave me some sort of power, so I could use the spells in that book."

"Oh, is that why your eyes are glowing like that?"

"What?" Matt whipped his head around to look at Jeremy, his eyes wide, "What do you mean my eyes are glowing?"

"Uhm," Jeremy searched on the ground until he found a shard of glass, holding it up to Matt, "Here. That's what I mean."

Matt froze as he saw what Jeremy meant. His eyes were glowing a strange, pinkish-purple color. Much like a-

"God." Matt breathed, shutting his eyes, and banging a fist to his head.


End file.
